Process of closing or sealing apertures.



PATENTED JULY 3, 1906.

M. BNGELS. v PROCESS OF CLOSING OR SEALING APERTURES.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 13,1905.

g uwnag Atgg neck-opening of a bottle.

UNITED STATES PATENT oFFron. MAX ENeELs. drfnnssnLnonr, GERMANY. socEss OF cLosl'ut-b. oR sEALme APERTURES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

-Patented July 3, 1806.

1 Application filed June 13,1905- Serial No. 265,002.

vented certain new and useful Improvements in Process'esof Closing or Sealing Apertures, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates'to the process of closing or sealing apertures by means of a cap, band. or joint protector made from a substance exemplified by celluloid in suchamanner that it has the property of altering its dimensionsunder the influence of heat.

various forms, for forming joints in tubes, or for many other purposes. v

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a bottle closure or cap shown in Fig. 2 as applied by means of my process to the seal ng of a bottle. Fig. 3 represents a similaraform of cap shown in Fig. 4 as applied to a bottle havinga screw-threaded neck. Fig. 5 represents a tubular closure shown in Fig. 6 after it has been used to secure a disk over the Fig. 7 represents a rod shown in Fig. 8 as expanded by my'process to form an interior closure for a bottle. Fig,. 9 represents a tube shown in Fig. 10 as forming a joint cover or protector for the two pieces of glass tubing.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, 1 designatesa' tubular closure, shown asa closed-end tube or cap formed from a tube of celluloid and having a flaring wall 11, formed with an inwardly-projecting' annular flange 12 at its upper end, closed bya celluloid disk 13. 2 represents a bottle-neck having a bead 21. The cap 1 is produced by increasing the -d i ameter of a tube of celluloid, so that initial 'inclose the bead 21 of the neck 2, whereby its accidental disengagementifrom the bottleneck is prevented.

Owing to its'duc- The form oftubular closure or cap shown in Fig. 3 is similar in design and construction .to that shown in Fig. 1, except that the wall 11 is preferably somewhat shorter. It is applied in asimilar manner to a bottle having its neck 22 formed with an external screwthread. In shrinking it adapts itself to this screw-thread and when allowed to cool may be screwed from the bottle-neck 22 and re placed thereon as often as desired, forming a perfect substitute for the metal screw-threaded cap usually employed. Fig. 5 shows a tubular closure, shown as an open-end short tube 3, of celluloid, the wall of which may be It may be used for the closing of bottles of of the bottle being covered by a disk 4, which maybe of metal or of any desired material.

When the parts areassembled and exposed to heat as before, the short tube 3 contracts over the periphery of the disk 4 and beneath cient closure for abottle.

Fig. 7 represents a rod 5, of celluloid, the diameter of which has been gradually decreased in the process of manufacture.

In Fig. 8 the'rod 5 is shown as having been interior corrugations 26. In this case the rod 5 when ex osed to heat ex ands and fills the neck 25 o the bottle at al points for its entire length, forming an efficient closure therefor.

" Fig. 9 designates a tubular closure shown as an open-end tube 6, of celluloid, which, as

'the bead 24, forming, with the disk 4, an effi- I inserted in the bottle-neck 25 provided with .8

have described the various closures shown as'formed of celluloid, for the reason that this material has in a marked de ree the property of relieving itself from initia strains set up during the process of manufacturing an article therefrom by the application of vicenot with the intention of limiting my= self to the use of such forms, but, per contra, to show that my invention may be employed for many purposes and embodied in diverse forms. I therefore in the claims employ the word closure in a broad sense to indicate either an interior or an exterior closure for an opening of definite size or an article adapted to join two or more parts, thereby acting as a closure for the gap between them, however small this may be. Thus, e. 9., it is evident that the insertion in the bottle-neck 2 of a cork 8, (shown in Fig. 2,) although this would ordinarily be unnecessary, would not render the cap 1 any less a closure.

in an application of even date herewith, which application has received Serial No.

265,001, I have described and claimed the closure shown in the drawings and above explained, as well as the process of making the same. My present invention, therefore, refers only to the process of applying same to the bottle, tube, or other article which it is desired to close or seal.

Without s ecifying materials or enumerating equiva ents, what claim is.-

1. The process of closing an aperture, which comprises applying to the article to be closed a closure of material under strain, and raising the temperature of the closure to a point at which it is relieved of such strain and is altered in dimension to fit the article ,to be closed. 7

2. The process of closing an aperture, which comprises applying to an article to be closed a tubular closure of material under circumferential strain, and raising the temperature of the closure to a point at which it is relieved of such strain and is altered in diameter to fit the article to be closed. i

3. The process of closing an aperture, which comprises applying to the exterior of an arti- V I cle to be closed a closure pf material under circumferential strain, and of raising the temperature of the closure to a point at which it is relieved of such strain and is reduced in dicomprises applying to the exterior of the bottle-neck a tubular closure under circumferential strain, and raising the temperature of said closure to a point at which it is relieved of such strain and is reduced in diameter to inclose said neck.

6. The process of closing a bottle, which comprises applying'over the mouth thereof a cap under circumferential strain, and of raising the temperature of said closure to a point at which it is relieved of such strain and is reduced in diameter to inclose the bottleneck.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the ing witnesses.

. MAX ENGELS. Witnesses:

PETER LIEBER, WILLIAM EssENWEIN.

presence of two subscrib- 

